the raging unpopular war in vietnam consumed the bitter campaign battle between president nixon and george mcgovern. suddenly october 26th, 12 days before the election, vietnam negotiator henry kissinger made a surprise statement >> we believe peace is at hand. >> the first so-called october surprise, late in the game campaign event with a significant impact on the election. >> in order to win re-election for nixon in 1972, they needed to end the vietnam war. this was sort of the definitive statement. >> the most famous october surprise was in 1980 and the surprise was what did not happen. 52 u.s. hostages held in iran were not released before the election in spite of president carter's efforts. instead, they were freed as soon as ronald reagan was inaugurated, delayed freeing the hostages. >> it fed into the whole dynamic of the 1980 race in the sense that jimmy carter was a stumbling, ineffective president. >> reporter: fast forward to 1992. president george h.w. bush was already on the ropes against bill clinton over a sluggish economy. when casper weinberger was implicated in the iran-